2-21-2010 (maybe)
I feel like I have no idea what day it really is, or time for that matter. I think it’s about 11pm, maybe 11:30. I’m tucked away in my bunk on the sleeper car that Andrea, Mike and I are taking from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. I have a bottom bunk, which is nice and allowed me and Andrea, who also has a bottom bunk, to play cards and move about freely while everyone else on the train slept. These people started putting their bunks up and going to bed at 9:30. 9:30? I’m running on about four hours of actual, in bed sleeping and I’m listening to a sea of snores. One guy came up to me while I was shuffling and said “would you rather do this (made a shuffling motion) or let us sleep?” I thought there was maybe a nicer way to ask me to stop shuffling, but whatever. He’s probably an unhappy person.
inside my sleeper bunk. those are my feet.
My flight out of Seoul was delayed about 3 hours, getting me into Bangkok at about 3am. Despite the time and the lack of sleep I was still so excited to be in Thailand that I almost cried in the cab. I got to The Rooftop View Place at around 4am. Andrea’s smiling, and slightly tipsy face was waiting for me on the hotel’s porch. I’m so incredibly happy that she and Mike were here when I got here. It made it seem less scary to start this trip.
Mike and Andrea
We walked through Khao San Road and sampled a few different sweet treats that we bought from the vendors. Mike’s favorite, and probably mine, was this coconut custard that has corn in it and it sort of fried into these little shells. It also comes with tofu and something else that we’re not sure of. We also got these rice cake things topped with some sort of caramel-like good, and these really disgusting green jelly things that you dip in this maple syrup-like sauce. They were basically inedible, but hey, you gotta try it.
The top are the rice cake things, the green things were basically inedible and the coconut pudding things are at the bottom.
At least Andrea Tried to eat them. We had to lie to her and tell her that they weren't disgusting.
ice cream cone tasting taco type thing with maybe coconut. no idea. it was yummy
We walked down to where the Grand Palace where some guy tried to tell us that it was closed to tourist on Saturdays and Sundays and that we should take his friend’s tuk-tuk to some other place instead. We didn’t believe him despite his annoying persistence. We repaid him by telling a group of unsuspecting tourists that he was talking to on our way out that it is, in fact, open, and that he was lying. He thanked Andrea and smarmy grin.
We decided that we didn’t want to pay the 350 baht that it would cost to get in, which is really only about $10 usd so probably should have, but took pictures of it from the courtyard just inside the palace walls. I was wearing shorts that went over my knee and they made me rent a wrap skirt to cover my legs. It was getting unbearably hot in the two layers, despite the heavy rain we got in morning, and, to be honest, I’ve seen enough palaces.
Andrea. me, my stupid big skirt and the tank top that doesn't go with it
We made our way over to Wat Pho, where there are a whole lotta buddhas. I’m sure I’ll be visiting several more Wat's, which are just big temples, while I’m here.
one of many buddha walls
We took a tuk-tuk over to Chinatown, where we hoped to sit and eat but apparently the only places in Bangkok to eat inside are where tourists go. We ended up wandering around, through crowded streets filled with vendors selling old car parts and sex toys. All of the buildings that looked like they would be restaurants turned out to be jewelers. We ended up eating some toasted bread with butter and sugar served to us at plastic tables and chairs. None of the waitresses spoke English and only Thai people were eating there, I’d rather have it that way than eat somewhere less authentic. We ended up eating real dinner near the hotel and rushing to catch this train.
We met a guy on the train named Nathan, who is from Tazmania and seems to have been on holiday for months. He told us the story of some Thai girl making him drink a bottle of terrible tasting Thai whiskey and him waking up at her apartment sick from drinking. Hey, at least she didn’t turn out to be a ladyboy.
10:33am Feb 21 2010
This train sure does stop a lot. We're running three hours late, supposedly getting us into Chiang Mai at about noon. I swear we just went backwards. At least I'm getting a lot of knitting done. The bunk was comfortable enough to get some sleep in. Soon I'll get a full night in a bed. I look forward to it.
in front of our train before we left. I'm giving the peace sign like all the Koreans.
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